This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 10-2005-0021141 filed Mar. 14, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-locking structure of a split roller bearing cage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, when it is desired to frequently exchange a rotating shaft and a bearing, the bearing is preferable to take the form of a split roller bearing in order to facilitate separation/coupling with the rotating shaft. In such a split roller bearing, its split roller bearing cage, which is internally coupled to a bearing inner race and externally coupled to a bearing outer race, is split into two semicircular half parts along a split center axis. In use, the split roller bearing cage half parts are aligned to form a full circle, and are firmly engaged, at their opposite joint ends, to each other under assistance of locking means to substantially prevent unwanted separation therebetween before being mounted in a block case.
Considering an exemplary configuration of prior art locking means for use in such a split roller bearing cage, screw-holes are formed at opposite joint ends of two semicircular half parts of the split roller bearing cage, and connector plates are arranged over the opposite joint ends of the cage half parts, which were accurately aligned with each other to form a full circle. As screws are fastened through the screw-holes of the cage half parts and the connector plates, the two cage half parts are combined with each other via the connector plates.
Such a locking means, however, has a troublesome use problem. For example, in certain mechanical devices using a special large number of bearings, such as roller conveyers, cast-iron rolling rolls, etc., a plurality of screws must be fastened to or unfastened from the locking means one by one whenever it is required to combine or split a split roller bearing for the exchange of an associated rotating shaft. This results in very consumptive labor and time and consequently only a low operational efficiency.